WWE Madison Square Garden Live Event Sees Incredibly Low Attendance

WWE recently held their traditional holiday live event at the world’s most famous arena. The company is proud of their long affiliation with Madison Square Garden. There is a long history of big crowds and historic moments in WWE history at the venue.

In 2020, live events were the farthest thing from fans’ minds. As the world shut down due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, WWE moved to the Performance Center and later the ThunderDome. Fans were shut out for months on end.

It finally looked like things might be turning the corner in 2021. Most promotions welcomed back fans and began touring again. Then came the Omicron variant. As the state of New York began implementing mask and vaccination mandates and with a public skeptical of the safety of indoor events, ticket sales for this year’s MSG Christmas show were very slow.

A new image circulating on social media from the night of the event shows just how dire things may have become for WWE. A lack of interest in the product plus public health and safety fears combined for what appears to be a crowd that was very unintentionally socially distanced.

It is not known when the photo was taken. Fans frequently will take shots of the crowd hours before an event is scheduled to begin. Based on the advance ticket sales numbers, there probably weren’t a lot more who showed up.

It does appear that the photo was taken towards the entrance area. The arena seating chart shows that these seats were never for sale to begin with. Still, the areas that were sold look to be at 50% capacity or less.

As the new COVID variant continues to spread like wildfire and interest in WWE wanes in certain markets, these kinds of crowds can be expected. It will be difficult to sell out arenas this winter. At a time when other sports are cancelling or rescheduling events due to the virus, WWE appears willing to soldier on.

What do you think of the attendance for WWE’s NYC show? Let us know in the comments!